Connected vehicles are expected to exchange extensive amounts of control information with a wireless network serving the connected vehicles. A reason for this is that an autonomous vehicle typically needs continuously updated control information, such as positioning messages relating to its current position, in order to be safely conveyed. Furthermore, the control information includes for example paging messages, tracking area update messages, and as mentioned positioning messages. Each of these messages has its conventional meaning as used within the field of wireless networks, specifically within telecommunications. Nevertheless, in short as specific examples to improve understanding, the paging messages are sent when the wireless network initiates a session, such as a phone call or the like, with a particular wireless device, such as a smartphone, and the tracking area update messages are sent by the particular wireless device when the particular wireless device moves around in the wireless network.
A known wireless network serves a connected vehicle, being equipped with wireless communication capabilities, and a wireless device. The aforementioned control information is exchanged between the wireless network and the connected vehicle as well as between the wireless network and the wireless device. In order to provide a more sustainable and environmental friendly wireless system, including the wireless network and the wireless device, it is desired to reduce power consumption of the wireless system. According to a known manner of reducing power consumption, so called Discontinuous Reception (DRX) cycles are applied. DRX implies that the wireless device switches between periods of sleep and periods of activity. During the periods of sleep, power consumption of the wireless device is low compared to during the periods of activity. A maximum DRX cycle would imply very low power consumption. The wireless network may of course only send paging messages to the wireless device during the periods of activity. Thanks to the DRX cycle, time between charging of a battery of the wireless device is extended.
However, a maximum DRX cycle, ensuring great energy savings, would force the wireless network to find the wireless device in only one attempt, while otherwise duration until a next period of activity would be unacceptably long. This means that the wireless network has to page, i.e. send paging messages to, the wireless device in all cells of a tracking area list maintained by the wireless device. This is inefficient since many paging message needs to be transmitted in the wireless network. In order to reduce the number of paging messages, it may be possible to configure the wireless device to keep only a few cells in the tracking area list. A problem with this approach is, however, that the wireless device will be forced to send tracking area update messages or similar more often, i.e. as soon as the wireless device moves out of the few cells in the tracking area list. Oppositely, if the wireless device keeps many cells in the tracking area list, the number of paging messages will increase and the complexity of the wireless device increases.